Silvercat problem (maybe)..... (1 Viewer)

[Mike OConnell]

Alright, I admit it, this may be a very dumb question, but here goes....
I received my silvercats today to connect between my CD player, preamp, and amp (2-channel system). (2-0.5 M pairs)
The RCA connections on my Arcam pre-amp and CD player are fairly close, and when the locking RCA's are in place the barrels touch, in fact the barrels will rub against each other during the tightening of the locking barrels. The "gold" colored cable side ends have the clear insulation around them, but not the barrels.
Question - will this cause a short, or are the outside barrels non-conductive (insulators)?
I removed the silvercats and replaced with my old cables before I did something I would possibly regret (short out my system).
Thanks for the responses.
Mike

 

[Kevin P]

The outer shells are connected to the signal ground (Doug, chime in if I'm wrong!), so it shouldn't (in theory, at least) cause a problem if they touch.
If you get noise or a hum when they touch, put a piece of electrical tape between them.
KJP

 

[Eric S]

I agree with Kevin. The outer conductors (ground or shield) on your receiver/cd player/etc are likely all connected together inside the unit anyhow.
I noticed this same thing with RCA connectors I purchased from homegrownaudio.com ...

 

[PomingF]

Mike:
The RCA's of my SilverCats would rub & touch each other while being locked or unlocked on the Adcom CD changers terminals and I didn't even bother check to see if they do it while sitting still. No problem what-so-ever performance-wise since they are both grounded on the outside I suppose. That said I believe it's more of a problem created by equipment manufacturers putting terminals too close together not allowing room for anything but skinny/less expensive connectors than the connectors themselves.
Enjoy the Cats.
PF

 

[dougW]

The outside of the barrels are part of your ground as the guys said, and cannot connect to the positive connection. At WORST, your sharing a ground with the barrels touching. I would think that after you are done tightening them, that the clear shrink over the brass barrel should be what is touching, not the barrels themselves. But again, if they are, there should be no danger to your equipment. There are much worse things than a shared ground. If you touch a hot RCA tip that's connected to a ground on another cable, now that's a bad thing! If the barrels are touching even with the clear shrink on, that's the closest RCAs I have heard of.
But if you feel this is a problem, we can retrofit your cables with alternate RCA ends or you can return them. It's your call! I am sorry for your inconvenience for sure. We are aware that the barrels take more room than standard RCAs, but this is the first real complaint on that. But rest assured, there is no danger to your equipment from shared grounds.
Other than this problem, how did you like the cables?
Thanks,
Doug
CATCables.com

 

[Mike OConnell]

Thanks for the responses....that's what you get when you mix a water supply engineer with electrical equipment!
I'll get them hooked up tonight and get a response back in a few days.
Mike